Year in Review 2022-2023
EXCITING NEWS! NFI North is pleased to share exciting news about the organization’s senior leadership. Dr Paul L. Dann, NFI North’s Executive Director, will step into the role of President and CEO for North American Family Institute effective January 1st, 2024. He has the honor of succeeding the Agency’s founder Dr. Yitzhak Bakal who completes a 50-year tenure with this special organization. With this news in hand NFI North’s Board and Administrative Team formed a search committee and we’re excited to share that Luke Reynard, MBA, Chief Operating Officer of NFI North will become the Executive Director of NFI North beginning in the new year. Mr. Reynard holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Texas Permian Basin and is currently pursuing a Doctoral degree in leadership. He joined NFI North in 2020, bringing innovative ideas and opportunities for growth. A resident of Henniker, NH, Reynard grew up in Texas. Luke, along with his wife, relishes the outdoor activities that Maine and New Hampshire provide, particularly skiing and snowboarding. Dr. Paul Dann who will exit his current role of Executive Director expressed confidence in the committee's choice. "Luke is a remarkable leader who has shown a strong commitment to our mission of helping individuals and families reach their full potential," said Dr. Dann. "I'm very happy with the committee's decision, and I'm confident Luke will be a great steward of this remarkable organization and will continue to uphold our core values. It’s wonderful as well that my new role will allow me to continue to work with Luke and the NFI North community”. The selection of Dr. Dann for CEO of NAFI/NFI caps a search process facilitated by NAFI’s National Board of Directors, the Executive Directors of the respective sister organizations and outgoing Founder, Dr. Yitzak Bakal. A large initial prospect pool was narrowed by stages and ended with a unanimous agreement that Dr. Dann was the ideal candidate to lead NAFI and its sister agencies. ”Dr. Paul Dann and his team have done a remarkable job in growing NFI North’s service array over the last three decades," said Bakal. "Paul can take justifiable pride in the fact that he has grown NFI North from a small agency with one service and four employees into the multi service and multi state organization that it is today. His extraordinary efforts have allowed the agency to broaden its reach and to help thousands of people to live successfully in their own home and community. Leaving NAFI in the capable hands of Dr. Dann gives me great peace of mind and I wish him and the whole organization all the best”.
BEST PLACES TO WORK IN NH AND MAINE For New Hampshire, NFI North was awarded in the top 15 of businesses, placing at the 12th spot. For more than 25 years, Business NH Magazine has recognized businesses that go out of their way to create engaging workplaces. In honor of this nomination, some NFI staff attended the ‘Breakfast With the Best’ and were able to celebrate this accomplishment.
For the 6th year in a row, NFI North was awarded Best Place to Work in Maine, sitting in the top 10 of businesses. Some employees were able to attend the Best Places to Work in Maine celebration. We are so proud of our employees who made this happen.
In order for a business to be considered, the company has to send out a survey to its employees, employees are then given the opportunity to fill them out as honestly as possible, and based on those results, we were chosen. NFI North takes pride in knowing that their employees are happy and truly believe in the mission. This is shown year after year by being awarded these award.
JEAN TEWKSBURY FROM THS BRADFORD AWARDED A NAFI/NFI SPIRIT OF COMMUNITY AWARD Jean’s meaningful contributions spread a remarkable sense of community spirt through various volunteer work and gestures of goodwill to not only the NAFI/NFI participants and families we serve but touches many of her colleagues and far extends beyond the walls of NAFI/NFI into her local communities and beyond. This year she planned and hosted very successful events to include: A Mental Health awareness day as well as a “Fun Fair”. Not only is Jean’s program her priority and near and dear to her heart, she is forever stepping up and helping others at NFI North.
YOUTH MOVE RENEW
YOUTH MOVE Youth MOVE New Hampshire (YMNH) is a program of NFI North that works as a diverse collective of young adults who advocate for youth voice and choice in behavioral health and in other youth serving systems. YMNH Youth Peer Support Specialists are so grateful to have begun a new adventure in the form of partnering with the Contoocook School to provide a peer-lead, student-driven enrichment group. We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively to move forward the important mission of promoting youth empowerment, leadership, and advocacy.
The Contoocook School is excited to begin offering the RENEW program organized through the UNH Institute on Disability. The RENEW process is a structured model in guiding youth in formulating goals and objectives which are person-centered, and completely youth-driven.
TRUST BASED RELATIONAL INTERVENTION (TBRI) NFI North has adopted Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI). TBRI is an attachment-based, trauma[1]informed, whole-child approach to meeting the needs of children and youth who have experienced adversity, toxic stress, and/or trauma.
20th Annual NFI North
EMPOWERMENT
AWARDS
This years Empowerment Awards were special, as it was our 20th year. This event is so important to NFI North. We celebrated four individuals and families, who, through the help of our services, have overcome great challenges to reach personal goals. This year, over two hundred people gathered to celebrate our honorees at the Grand Summit Hotel at Attitash in Bartlett, NH. In addition to our honorees, we take the time to honor one of our volunteers. The volunteer of the year is someone who works very hard for our NFI North programs, they dedicate many hours to helping our participants reach their full potential. For the honorees we celebrate, their journey towards recovery has not been a straight and steady road. Whether there have been ups and downs, new discoveries and setbacks. Over time though it is possible to look back and see how far they have really come. This event does not happen without the help of our sponsors. This year we were fortunate enough to have TD Bank, Irwin Motors, Havenwood Heritage Heights, Northeast Pharmacy Services, and Naughton & Sons Recycling. We are so thankful for their support this year and helping to make this event a success and providing support to our Empowerment winners.
LEWISTON STRONG Even during the hardest of tragedies, our NFI North Intermission program came together to make cards for the local first responders who acted quickly during the tragic event. Everyone was safe at our program, but our community was widely impacted. We are thinking of those who lost their lives that horrible night, and continue to support each other, and those around us.
NEW GREENHOUSE FOR STETSON RANCH Thanks to a grant, our Stetson Ranch program received the funding to build a beautiful green house, it has solar panels to run an irrigation drop line, as well as lights. Since having the greenhouse, they were able to grow peppers plants before it got to cold. Once things begin to warm up in the spring, they will be offering a horticulture class, where they plan to grow flowers and vegetables. They are also hoping to have a former employee come in and show them how to grow poinsettias.
MAINE SCHOOL CELEBRATION This year we were able to celebrate all of our Maine students. This includes students at Beacon, Bridge Crossing Academy, Stetson Ranch, and Sidney Riverbend. Throughout the year our students have worked hard in Math, English, Science, Social Studies, and many other subjects. We are so proud of the growth our students have all made this year, and the hard work they continue to do.
NEW INITIATIVES AND DEVELOPMENTS DEIB
As part of our commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, we’ve taken action to include a wide variety of voices and discussions about identity, privledge and bias. We conducted training with DEIB experts for staff and participants who were interested. Our DEIB committee is hard at work preparing for 2024.
RESIDENTIAL MENTAL HEALTH FOR ADULTS OVER 60 IN NH
NFI North will open four new Transitional Housing Services in New Hampshire early 2024! This is an exciting opportunity to help an underserved population to live and thrive with mental health supports in a caring and positive environment.
EARLY CHILDHOOD WRAP AROUND SERVICES
We opened our wrap-around services to children ages 0-6 for the first time in 2023. This important program serves pregnant mothers and their children, helping connect them with the mental health and resources they need to live successfully in their own homes.
3rd Annual
Santa Shuffle Our third annual Santa Shuffle 5K walk/run was a huge success! The Santa Shuffle took place at Bridge Crossing Academy on December 2nd. There was a wonderful turnout this year, and the weather was perfect for the day. The Santa Shuffle includes a children’s fun run, as well as a timed 5K. All of the money that is raised goes directly to the kids at Bridge Crossing. With the success of this race, we were able to get enough funds to build the playground for the kids at the school. This has been our goal for the last few years, and to finally achieve it, is incredible. We had an amazing 240 runners attend this year! We are so grateful to all of our sponsors, volunteers and runners who helped make this event possible. Your support is so important to us and our mission. Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus were also in attendance, handing out gifts to the kids. Everyone was also able to enjoy coffee, hot cocoa, and delicious cookies.
HAVING FUN DOING SERIOUS WORK